In Southern Africa, trade costs as high as double the global average significantly constrain trade-based growth, limit product diversification and increase the price of goods, including food. To reduce the time and costs of importing and exporting, the Trade and Investment Hub is promoting several modern trade facilitation tools and assisting in their adoption. Read More

This week the Trade and Investment Hub held a meeting with the Citrus Board of Swaziland and officials from the Swaziland Ministry of Agriculture to discuss the status of the draft pest risk analysis (PRA) report on citrus exports to the U.S.

Progress toward establishing a National Single Window moved forward after an inter-ministerial workshop in Namibia held Feb. 27, 2017. Attended by senior public and private sector stakeholders, the event was a critical step in moving Namibia closer to implementing its National Single Window for Trade. The primary objective was to determine how to structure the operating authority for NSW in Namibia, with participants deliberating over fully Government funded options and the many possibilities offered through a Public Private Partnership.

USAID’s Southern Africa Trade Hub and its local partner organization, the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP), delivered a Persuasive Communications and Assertiveness Workshop for Women in Business in Windhoek, Namibia, from February 16-18, 2016.

USAID’s Southern Africa Trade Hub, working with the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS), has successfully developed and published the “Guide for the Referencing of Standards in Technical Regulations in Zambia.”

USAID’s Southern Africa Trade Hub is undertaking cross-border gender assessments in SADC countries this month composed of field research at three important border crossing areas: the Mwanza border in Malawi, the Nakonde border in Zambia, and the Kazungula border in Botswana.

Following the success of the Persuasive Communication and Negotiation Trainings conducted in Zambia and Botswana in August 2015, USAID’s Southern African Trade Hub launched the new extended version of the training in Lusaka, Zambia from February 10-12, 2016.

During the week of February 1, 2016, USAID’s Southern Africa Trade Hub assisted the Swaziland Standards Authority (SWASA) to develop and print copies of the “Guide for the Referencing of Standards in Regulations in Swaziland” for distribution to various government and private sector agencies.